Do you think religion is man made and ends here on earth ?

When you come to the end of your earthly experiences and move from the physical body into the spirit life it will not be asked of you: "What religion did you follow? What belief did you hold?" There will be none to say: "Were you a Roman Catholic, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, a Mormon or a ‘Born Again’ Christian?"

We are much more than what we appear to be. We base our perception of ourselves on what we see in the mirror. This physical perception is reinforced by relatives, society, schools and religions. Religious dogma instils in followers, that prophets or saviours of mankind exist somewhere out there. When we pray to ‘Them’, we hope they can hear us out there and will come to our rescue when we need ‘Them’ to save us from some dire situation. God is typically viewed as a Father figure, who is sitting on a throne in Heaven. Many religions reinforce this view of separation. Little, insignificant ‘Us’ and big, powerful ‘Them’. Of course, many religions also teach us that their anointed representatives are necessary middlemen required to represent our interests before God, sort of like metaphysical lawyers.

Many religious people have the faulty and dogmatic belief that only their religion is true and that all other religions are inferior and flawed. Such a belief has been the scourge of humanity and has been the source of the multitude of horrible religious wars and atrocities that have plagued humankind. Those religions which claim some singular relationship with God, claim superiority over others, or exclude people for various reasons, would therefore go against God's law that we love one another as we love ourselves. The ‘Creator’ of our Universe is not a white robed bearded old man in the sky, however, but a life form permeating all matter and space and of which we are an integral part. The bearded-old-man image was merely a useful construct of the human mind invented to help ancient illiterate people relate to the "Infinite".

"Understanding" by forcing (and blindly accepting) religious explanations short circuits any search for the truth. How can you understand and integrate new evidence when you are no longer questioning? Better to simply use spiritual tools like "intuition" and let them be understood - or not - with time and real evidence. Religious groups have animosity for the non-believers for one reason and one reason only. To believe that there are other people in this world, who have read your scripture, and thought that it was worth little more than the paper it was printed on, to believe this is a threat to anyone's faith. When someone has dedicated their lives to a faith, often from birth and have attached all emotional feeling to the existence of this unseen ‘Master’, when such a person feels that their faith is threatened, they will always react strongly, thoughtlessly, and finally, coercively. "How is it possible that someone could know what I know about this religion, and then not fully dedicate their lives to its spread?" This becomes the thought of the fundamentalist at the sight of non-believers.

Religion is purely subjective not scientific. For example, no one can use science to prove that Jesus died for the ungodly. It is universally accepted that anything 'subjective' is itself subject to fundamental errors - that is why we have many different ‘authoritative’ religions all claiming they have the 'truth.' Subjective authority is not really authority at all. The Bible, Koran, Talmud, Bhagavad-Gita, Book of Mormon and other holy books - have 'subjective' authority arrived at by priestly representatives or so called ‘prophets’. This means that their authority is NOT objective and applies only to those who want to follow their teachings but not to those who do not choose to.

The endurance of religion in general, is not much of a mystery. No doubt there are many factors that have contributed to the major religions' success. The problem of lifetime investment is surely one: just look at how much attentional, emotional, and financial resources people have invested in their religion. No one is eager to realise they has been wasting their (life) time. Realizing that the core claims of Christianity are illegitimate would be equal to a Christian admitting, "I have been wrong all these years

Everyone, religious or not, believing in God or not, transitions to the spirit world as part of the natural process of life. Just as one does not need to be religious to live in the physical world, one does not need to profess a particular faith to live in the spirit world.

Regardless of cultural or religious beliefs, we have the same basic experience at death-a (non religious) return to our home - the spirit world

Maybe it is, but knowing whether it is or not isn't relevant to the needs of our daily life, which are often made easier to obtain through the restrictions of religion, avoiding the pursuit of certain things, and thus being more able and free to spend time and effort on the more and most important things. So, knowledge isn't always power. Sometimes it's just trivia.

Yes, religion IS a man made concept, and it is a belief system and a way of controlling its believers. God is NOT religion, and religion is NOT God. Religion has divided and totally messed up this world. Rest assured there will be none of that religious chaos in heaven.

You are espousing a New Age conception of reality that may or may not be true. While it definitely gives us warm fuzzies, the whole is rather internally inconsistent.

Religion is the weapon that right wingers use on liberals.